A long, long, long time ago I learned that there had been a debate over the best strategy for advancing civil rights. It's been long enough that I probably have the details wrong (this article discussing some of the history behind it, and it's not quite what I remember), but what I recall of it was this...
Slavery was legalized within a very short time frame, so some people felt the legal system could be used to reverse the effects. These are the ones who pushed for legal action, like Brown vs. the Board of Education.
Others wanted to focus on economic advancement. I'm not sure about what all was involved with that (as Brown vs. Board of Education shows, the legal strategy seemed to take precedence) but I believe some of it involved supporting black businesses and access to a good education and the like. (Immigrant communities in the US often work together to succeed. For example, they might pool their resources so one member can open a restaurant, and they might help work in that restaurant until it succeeds. Then the one who benefited from all that support will pay into the fund and help out as the next person starts a small business.)
And... I have to wrap this up quick, because I just heard some thunder and my dogs are now making it far too hard to type.
Point was this - we have seen that the legal strategy has some pretty big drawbacks. Top down does have an impact, but that impact can be diffused when there's a large population that doesn't support it.
The same holds true to trying to impose a reactionary ideology from the top.
As someone who was born after Roe vs. Wade, the truly 'conservative' policy (i.e. in accordance with Russell Kirk's ten principles, which include things like adhering to 'custom, convention, and continuity', prudence, and the importance of reconciling permanence and change) would have been to conserve the traditions we have developed over 40 years.
These guys aren't conservative. They're reactionary, and they are so determined to turn back the clock that they utterly fail to understand why the things they hate have caught on.
Okay, so they overturned Roe vs Wade.
Now quite a large part of the population are going to ignore whatever laws the states impose to stop abortion.
Some of them will get caught (just as some of the hospitals in Texas have reported families of trans children. Or reported a woman who had a miscarriage as if she'd chosen an abortion...) but quite a few will also just quietly look the other way.
Because they don't agree with the decision, don't think it's wrong, don't think it's any of their business, and don't support it.
Others will actively find ways around it, hence the beginning of the debate over whether states who allow abortion will cooperate with legal requests from states who have made it illegal.
All of which is going to be a freaking mess, and there will be some people who will suffer badly.
But for the most part, most of that silent majority is just going to ignore the Supreme Court's decision, and find ways around any laws the reactionary states pass.
(Whether the reactionaries will have enough power to take the next logical step - from their perspective - of becoming yet more authoritarian and invasive in their attempts to force an unwilling population to obey their poorly thought out laws - well, that remains to be seen.)
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